Life as we know until now [ as in a movie ]

If the life we have up till now is made into a movie,
Which part of it would be the climax of the show?

Doctor FarBird Sez : ....

Lack of sleep and massive intake of caffeine causes diarrhoea.

3 Years already

Time flies when one is having fun..
3 years of my life whizzed by as I was having fun...

3 years ago, I was married...
Tears, joy, pain, fun, followed by birth of our first child, Isabel 2 years ago..

I shared a cab with an old gentleman today..
He was married for 30 years.
Sharing his experience of family life with me, I very much appreciate his thoughts and experiences.
Its not just the days that count... but every minute and every second..

Time goes by when we are having fun...
Hopeful for more happy years ahead...

Some say ....

There are some pain which only death can remove..


Some say...

A magazine for every hobby!

Every known hobby known to Man has a magazine.
From PC hobbyists to guns to even rocket science.

I am a avid buyer of some magazines especially on subjects like Linux, console gaming and sometimes digital photography..

Browsing in one of a major bookstore recently, I came upon this front cover of a magazine which was "begging" me to take a photo of it...

Thanks to all Aviary Enthusiasts, a magazine of similar nature has hit all major bookstores..

Word of the day

Today's new word is

Colon Hydrotherapy

Wikipedia link belows give the technical and medical explanation of this process.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colon_hydrotherapy#In_alternative_medicine

Doctor FB says its definition in short is aiming a jet stream of water into the anal track.

Is the "U-Turn" technically correct?

Most people just take what they read or what they were taught without giving it much thought.

For the everyday road user, the blue colour "U-turn" sign means they can do a 180 degree turn to drive towards the opposite side of which they are facing.

However, the term "U-turn" is technically incorrect.
Look at the shape of the U relative to the direction which the driver desires to go..

Totally wrong..
Technically and diagrammatically, it should be known as the "n-turn"..

Something in the way she ....

Note to self.....

She loves Sarsi...

Company names....

Giving newborn baby a name that he or she will be addressed as for life.
It's never a skill to give names..

Giving nicknames to your schoolmates is one thing..giving names to entities whom shall depend on others to identify itself for its entire existence is totally different..

It may be naming a newborn baby... naming a new species or element... naming a new start-up company..

Well... the more common scenarios where a name would have to be given would be usually when a baby is borned into this world or a company is being started to do business...

Been opening my eyes lately to interesting names... and below was a company name which i chanced upon when I went into a office building to collect some items from a guy whom works in the same floor.

It was a kodak moment for me..
The reason the picture wasn't really sharp was because I was trying to stop shaking..
Why was I shaking?

I'd rather let this picture do the explaining.




Today is 19th Oct 2006
Time is 03:04 hrs


Technorati tag: kns

The power of littleness

Just recently, I re-learnt a Bahasa Melayu saying...

"Sikit Sikit Lama Lama Jadi Bukit"

In simple english, it means that through little accumulations over long time, anything can become big.

This applies very much to my learning of the Malay language as well.
My work requires me to go into Malaysia very often and every single visit, I'd try to learn new words.

I remember the early days of my working in Malaysia when I even had problems trying to tell a local taxi driver to go to the nearest food establishment in the local language..

Sad that even though my country's national language is Malay, and I can't even hold a simple conversation.

Sikit is "a little bit"
Atas means "higher"
Bawa means "lower"
Terus means "straight"
Bukit is "mountain"

Today is 7 October 2006.
Time is 00:51 hrs

I was served!

Last night, I was served... a sumptuous good dinner..

My wife had returned home early to whip a meal for me and our daughter.
A full fledged 3 dish , 1 soup and rice typical chinese dinner.
I was overwhelmed.

Firstly, I always thought I cooked better than her.
Secondly, I thought it'd take a long time to whip up something like that...

And yet, when I reached home, dinner was already laid up and ready for consumption.

Little miracles like these doesn't need an abundance of wealth to be enjoyed.
Such are the days I am happy to be who I am.

Apparently, our daughter is happy too, she got to go downstairs because we were so full from the dinner that we needed a long walk.

To top it all off, there was also breakfast in the morning also which was also fantastic!

How I Ditched Windows with Linux (UBUNTU)

My windows OS has been constantly giving me problems recently..

No, there are no problems on my hardware, just the cranky Microsoft Operating System trying to give its hell to the user. I am not going to re-install the entire windows all over again.

If I was ever to re-install a new OS, it will have to be something better than Windows..

For eye candy, the new MACBOOK PRO definitely attracted me for some time.
However, the price of the delectable Apple laptop isn't something which I consider cheap, not even by its 24 or 36 months installment plans..

The next alternative I had was to run Linux.
And so, a few magazines and some downloads later, here I am running Linux using the Ubuntu distro.

As to how I decided on which distro to use, the following website gave me a very good idea.

DistroWatch.com Website for top 10 Linux Distros

Apparently, though Linux is free, there are also many commercial versions with proper support.
However, these commercial releases also have their own "Free" versions with public forums support from users all around the world.

Some say that the "Free" versions are actually testing platforms for the commercial releases.
ie Novell SUSE vs OPENSUSE [ both also available off Novell's website apparently ]
ie Red Hat Linux vs Fedora Core [ from same company also ]

And what made me choose UBUNTU [ other than the fact that it is at the top of the list in DISTROWATCH ] ?

See the extract of the description of UBUNTU's history from Distrowatch

DistroWatch.com's Summary of Ubuntu

UBUNTU has stormed the Linux distribution scene like no other Linux project before. It has done so in a fashion resembling a highly sophisticated player: it seems to have first observed all other major distributions, learnt from their mistakes and combined the best features of all of them into one superior product. A six-month's release cycle, up-to-date package set, a clearly set product lifetime (at 18 months), fast download mirrors, great documentation, even free CDs and free shipment of CDs anywhere in the world to those interested in the distribution. That's Ubuntu.

The project is funded by Mark Shuttleworth. Those who have never heard the name, Mark is a South African entrepreneur who made a fortune when he sold his company, Thawte Consulting, to Verisign, for US$575 million in late 1999. He appears to be a generous person: after the sale, he reportedly paid bonuses of one million Rand each (about US$163,000 at the time) to every one of his employees. He also founded several educational and open source initiatives around South Africa, including Go Open Source. While it is not yet clear how Mark's Canonical Limited intends to make money from Ubuntu, the distribution is certainly off to a good start, at least in terms of getting the name into public consciousness and offering a solid alternative to more established Linux distributions.

On the technical side of things, Ubuntu is based on Debian Sid (unstable branch), but with more up-to-date packages, inclusive of the latest GNOME packages. The distribution is designed to be used on desktops and servers, with a supported upgrade path from Debian 3.0 (Woody). One of its more interesting features is the fact that the "root" account is disabled by default; the first registered user after installation is granted superuser privileges through the "sudo" command. This measure, while it might sound like an inconvenience at first, has to be applauded since it encourages good security practices.

Pros: Great community of developers and users; fixed release cycle and support period; upgrade path from stable Debian provided
Cons: Ubuntu's backers have not yet built a viable business model around the distribution
Software package management: APT (DEB)
Free download: Yes

Firstly, they ship the CDs to you free of charge [ take 4-6 weeks ] but what a committment this is even though they haven't figured a way to make money out of it yet..
Well, of course it is also downloadable off multiple mirrors, with today's connection speeds, it may just be faster to download, depending on where you are located.

Secondly, the boss himself actually paid his ex-employees an equal share when he sold of his ex-company to VeriSign. A whooping US$163000 to each employee. It goes to show his committment to his employees and with his UBUNTU totall free, again shows off his committment, now towards the society.

I quote the elaboration of the word "Ubuntu" from the Ubuntu website itself.
http://www.ubuntu.com/

UBUNTU : an African word, meaning " Humanity to others" or "I am who I am because of who we all are"

The UBUNTU linux distribution brings the spirit of Ubuntu to the software world.

In short, and in my own words...
UBUNTU ROCKS


Some eye candy for linux here [ aka how the linux can be made to look like the MAC OSX ]
Mac OSX Desktop look with Mac Style Launcher

Video of the OSX style eye candy for windows effects [ Much better than windows ]

Tunnelling around Vietnam : HCMC

Vietnam is a country, not a war..
Since the early 70s, vietnam has been trying to shake off its image as a war torn country.

Was there in Ho Chi Minh City(HCMC) for a short trip with the missus...
Generally friendly people whom speak english marginally...

Much french influence since it was a french colony long time back.
Even the written language somewhat resembles the french written language with its scripting of how the vowels should be pronounced.

Saw the war museums and the actual Cuchi tunnels that was used during the Vietnam war with USA.
Learnt from its history that as the US troops tried to clear off the forest so as to locate the vietcongs, they used a defoliation agent aka Agent Orange, which could speedily destroy the forest and crops so as to facilitate ease of air survellience to find out where the vietcongs were. (Not knowing that the vietcongs are all underground in well networked tunnels right beside their basecamp near the edge of Saigon)

And these chemicals from Agent Orange actually had many side effects which apparently caused various cancers in troops(from both sides) whom were exposed to the Agent Orange.

Even though Agent Orange was also used in other US wars such as the korean war, USA did admit the side effects and paid hefty compensations to all other countries whom were affected during their war with USA... All except Vietnam... because..... it is still a communist country.

The tour guide whom was more proficient in English actually enlightened us with that fact that the only thing that was communist in the country was its government administration..

Everything else was Capitalism! Yay!

Due to globalisation, modernisation and Capitalism, more foreign investors come in..
KFC was actually first opened in vietnam in less than 2 years ago.
MacDonald's haven't opened any outlet in Vietnam yet, which was quite amazing since from where I came from, its hard to not see a MacDonald's every 2 bus stops.

Anyhow, Bien Thai market provided us with the shopping leisure activity though I enjoyed Vietnam's history lesson more than its shopping.

Plan to go there again for its pristine beaches.

Goodbye Singapore .... hehe at least for 4 days

It's National Day for Singapore and I am leaving the country....
for 4 days..

I cannot bear to see any more propaganda by the people in white on this joyous day..

Though I will not be celebrating the Nation's birthday..
My ears will ring of "Count on Me Singapore" even as I board the plane as this is the last song I heard on the taxi over the radio as I reached the budget terminal...


Signing off... after leeching the use of the free "internet" PC desktop at budget terminal... only max of 15min per each use.. i am left with last 60 secs now


Hello Vietnam!!

Finally it's mine.. after 4 years of waiting

Today, I finally got my own domain name.. based on the nickname I had given myself more than 16 years ago..

www.farbird.com

It was the game "Wing Commander" that needed a Callsign on top of the name I have keyed in for myself... without giving much thought, I decided to give myself the Callsign of "FarBird".

And the nickname stuck with me since then..

Ever since I got my first credit card about 4 years ago, I'd been wanting to register a .com address based on my nickname. But sadly, it was owned by someone else, somewhere in the world..

Fortunately, I was doing the routine domain name checks and realised it was free again!

Today, I proudly re-declare to the world again.......

....i am farbird....

Google me. I am now almost everywhere.



Technorati tag : farbird

I am only 33% Singaporean

Just less than 3 months ago, Singapore had re-elected its govt.

Thank to 66.6% of the general public whom call themselves Singaporean, the incumbent has been re-elected to be the majority.

And the below shows just some of the ridiculous policies that have been implemented just right after the incumbent have been re-elected.

1) Taxi fare increase
2) Power tariff increase
3) Bus/MRT fare increase
4) ERP gantries increase

Are they testing the public to see if they can continue to milk the public dry ??

To test the people to their extremes????


WHY THESE HARD HITTING DECISIONS CANNOT BE MADE BEFORE ELECTIONS?


Can the 66.6% now answer for the actions of the govt?

Or were the 66.6% hoodwinked?

ARE U HAPPY NOW ?
66.6 % ?

Today I declare myself 33.3% Singaporean...
Because I refuse to be associated with the other foolish 66.6%.


Also seen in this thread I posted in HWZ forum
Click here to view the forum post




Technorati tag: iamsingaporean

English Instructions

This is definitely a nation of non-english speakers which need more help from the Native English Speakers to help them..

http://similaieh.blogspot.com/2006/07/shaving-japanese-way.html

Seriously, "Singlish" is a better understood language than "Janglish"...in both its spoken and written form..

Upselling

Only in my current job, I am exposed to the strategies and tactics of sales..

When I graduated from University, I didn't know what was it like being a sales person. Beyond the feature of the products, there were multiple other methods and tricks of the trade which a layman wouldn't be aware of..

This is one of the reason I wasn't able to get myself landed as a sales executive or sales engineer..

One of the widely used method is known as upselling..
What is upselling, one might wonder..

There are many dictionaries giving it multiple definitions.
However, I learnt it from the coffeeshop.

Today, I had picked up this skill from the Chicken Rice stall hawker.
I felt like having the local delicacy, so I went to a nearby coffeeshop for lunch.
After ordering my chicken rice with charsiew, the guy taking orders didn't just stop there... He actually tried to upsell me..

He asked if I wanted an egg to go with that..
Upselling also needs experience and survey of the situation.
I presumed he saw that I was not a small sized guy and knowing that I had ordered extras of charsiew on top of my chicken portion, he then decided to upsell.

The egg costed me additional of $0.50 more. Nothing too extravagant. But that would have meant that he had increased the revenue of the stall takings to an additional $0.50. And that was a 14.3% increase over my original price of $3.00 without the egg.

At the same time, he had helped to clear their stock of eggs and reduced the holding costs by one. Now that's upselling.

Another incident also awed me. A visit to a local mobile phone accessories shop.
I went into replace the LCD screen protector for my pocketpc phone.
Costed me $10 bucks. This sales person whom could not be more than 23 years old, actually tried to upsell me by asking me if I wanted to buy a bluetooth headset as well. The "state of the art" bluetooth headset costs up to $120 which was 12x more than the screen protector which I was already buying from him..

He did his survey of the situation, knowing that I use a "state of the art" phone, tried to match my need for "state of the art" gadgets by selling me another accessory. In his attempt, if he was successful, he'd have increased my expenditure of $10 up to another 1200% to $120 dollars.. Thankfully, I'd already owned one of those bluetooth headset. I kindly refused him and respected his effort.

Upselling, is by no means asking a customer to buy more than what he is intending to spend.
Nor is it to sell to a customer an additional item which is in stock and yet not know if the customer do have the need or not.

It is not just a science nor a formula... but an art which takes practice and from the practice, learning new experiences. It is a study of environment, people, interaction and also their body language and outwards expressions.

And this skill, sadly, is not something that can be taught at any instituition.
It has to be learnt through interaction with many people of multiple characters and cultures. Failures are not absolute, and neither is success. And it is a skill that constantly needs sharpening.

I hope this is enlightening for the reader...
Comments if you have more tips and tricks..

Technorati tag : Upselling

Indonesian Handshake

Work calls me for to be in Jakarta for the last week.
I was there with another colleague for about 5 days conducting seminars for several different companies.

Met up with my ex-secondary school classmate, Rusli Maryono Wardjojo, a local Indonesian Chinese. He was a close friend and a buddy. Rusli offered to show us around his city in his Mercedes Benz.

Everywhere we went in a car, we were able to see the "Terus" man.. I gave them the nickname because everytime Rusli has to park his car in the public, there would be this local Indonesian guy that will say to him "TERUS .. TERUS..". "Terus" means "straight" in the local language. In doing that, he is helping my friend to park the car by directing him into the lot. Not that Rusli's parking skills is bad but it was a norm in Indonesia, especially in Jakarta to receive these kind of pseudo-valet service.

And whenever we have to leave the location and drive somewhere else, the "Terus" man will appear again, helping to stop the incoming traffic so as to allow the Mercedes to reverse out of the lot... Of course, this will also mean that the "Terus" man will be giving the "Terus" command to my friend while he stops the incoming traffic..

After which, Rusli's hand will extend out of the window with a "mandatory" tip ranging from 2000-4000 rupiahs (local currency) for the "Terus" man. It's a handshake that will transfer the notes from the driver's hand to the "Terus" man's hand. Rusli tells me this is known as the "INDONESIAN HANDSHAKE".

Everywhere we park the car in a public place, there will be a "Terus" man around, all eager to assist you. These "Terus" men are not employed by government agencies nor officials from the transport authorities.. There are merely locals whom claim the territory and self operate as a "Terus" man.. Though lucrative as it is, and very much territorial in nature, it is also illegal. However, due to the amiable nature of the locals, there doesn't seem to be any gangland wars over these territories for the "Terus" people and there aren't also drivers whom were unwilling to part with their 2000-4000 rupiahs for the service rendered by the "Terus" man. Both parties are happy and there are no conflicts of borders and territories.

It is also due to opportunities like these that still draw villagers from faraway rural areas of Java and Sumatra to come to the capital city of Jakarta. Flooding the city with unemployment and the ever increasing slum areas. It makes me wonder if most of the jobs taken by these rural migrants are not legal or if they are mostly piecemeal work, does the high unemployment rate still stand true?

Anyway, if I were to be stranded in Jakarta, I'd definitely wanna be a "Terus" man, given my limited vocabulary of the local language, I think I'd be able to make it.
"Terus, Kiri, Kanan and Terima Kasih".


Some other interesting facts of Indonesia

In Singapore, we usually address a local malay as "Abang" or "bang" which means "Elder brother". In Jakarta, the locals are commonly addressed as "Mas" which means "Young Men of Java".

Batavia is another old name for Jakarta when it was still a Dutch Colony.

Extract from Wikipedia
-------------------------------------------------------------
Batavia : Dutch settlement on the island of Java. It later became the capital of the Dutch East Indies colony.


Technorati Tags: jakarta indonesia

Mobile Blogging

Now blogging through my pocketpc phone, my trusty Dopod 818pro via this application "Pocket Blogger".

Hopefully, this will mean that the blog will be updated more often.

Coupled with wifi @ office & home, I shall have the mobility & flexibility to blog even in the toilet.

The only concern is to not drop the phone while creating new entries....else I quote Carl's Junior slogan ....

"It's gonna get messy!"

If you miss, please try again

Another interesting sign that was created, printed and pasted without much thought.

Darn cleaner must be wondering why his workload increased ever since this poster was up.




An interesting followup poster should append to this current one..

"If you miss, please ,FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE, try again"

Signs in JKT

In a place where "AIR" is referred to as a liquid and not a gas,

Superman is not allowed.




After much investigation and asking around, it was found out that the "S" means "STOP" and the sign actually means "No Stopping".

However, if you had noticed, all other road signs are in their native languages.
"Stop" in the native language of this place I visited actually is known as "Berhenti".
Using "B" as the abbreviation will confuse with "BAS" which incidentally mean "Bus".

In the confusing conundrum of signages using both english and also the local language, how can the road users be sure what signs actually mean? But I am surprised that though traffic condition is bad, it never comes to a standstill nor did I witness any road accidents... especially when every other vehicle is inching by everyone else...

It is also amazing that when changing lanes in this land, it is better not to signal at all because it just gives another reason for the driver of the adjacent lane to speed up.

Borders

It is amazing how ambiguous the word "BORDERS" can be.

Borders define the country and thus unite its people behind them.

Borders also at the same time separate people.

In some cases, when borders become too distinct, people fight.
And in other cases when borders are not distinct, people fight.

Whatever that defined the people, gave just cause for war to happen.
Whatever that didn't define the people, gave just cause to define them and thus having the same conflicts.

In a huge piece of land filled with extensive raw minerals/gases/oil, everyone wants a piece of it. It's also amazing that this is land where many prophets of several religions originated. Unfortunately, peace that were preached by these prophets was never achieved and though these religions spread far and wide across the world, it never helped achieve peace and happiness in the lands of which these religions originated from.

Instead, these religions in its multiple variants became additional reasons for them to fight even more.

You say Allah, I say Amen.
Mine is the Koran, yours is the bible.
You got your precepts, I have my commandments.

Diversity should be celebrated and not a reason to fight about.
For it is the small differences between ourselves that make us unique.

Sublimal Programming of Marketing Campaigns

Ever since I stopped taking taxis, I have been more exposed to the power of mental suggestions.
And this suggestions are mostly sublimal in nature, ie, you will not know that you have been influenced.. These suggestions come in the form of advertisements panels on buses and within bus-stops.

Marketing campaigns to encourage the public to buy more of their product and hence improving their sales. These marketing campaigns often involves the use of famous people to be their spokesperson. To attract the public by telling them that even famous people uses their product.
Sometimes, it also carry sublimal messages that couldn't be deciphered by reading the text alone. Showing a cow in an advertisement poster for milk will sublimally let the audience know that the milk is fresh, even without needed to place the word "FRESH" on any part of the poster.

One such marketing advertisement I saw was about a cultured milk that aids the digestive system. Somehow the sublimal message I get from the advertisement tells me more about enhancing mammary glands more than the digestive system.



Technorati tag : Vitagen

Economy

I used to get drink in pubs and clubs.

Nowadays, I can only afford to get drunk in my local coffeeshop.

How's that for economy?

An entirely unrelated statement

Again...
showing off totally unrelated pictures to address current issues..

A statement that the public is crying out loud to the govt that was ironically selected by the public themselves.


This poster was first seen in a bus stop panel in hope that it will change the attitude of the general public on the disabled.



Technorati Tag : Iamsingaporean

Signs are everywhere!

We see pictures everyday...
They seemed to be normal advertisements or signages..

But do take a minute and think...
Does these signs/slogans/advertisements mean anything?

How can they relate to our tiny existence.
Do they serve just as marketing strategies for companies to sell more of their goods?

I see them differently...
I try to relate them to whatever that is happening around us..

And I share them with you.

In the recent media blockout of comments from the public in response to MICA's feedback to Mr Brown on rising costs of living, I manage to get this picture while travelling on a bus.

You can still choose... not just every 4 years.

Technorati Technorati Tags : iamsingaporean mrbrown

Every Picture has a meaning

Every picture we see tell a story...

I have visited the male toilet in my office floor countless times in more than 2 years..

I must have stood right below the poster for thousand of times without even noticing it..

This poster, looking at its yellow tint, should be more than 5 or 6 years old..

It is attached to the wall by means of some adhesive, probably doublesided tape.
And it is right above the urinal.. which makes the message which the poster wanted to bring across so darn clear!

Even before the public was aware of the plan for recycled water... there were already subtle hints given by the respective agencies.


The future is in your hands..
Use wisely.

I am Singaporean

I am a Singaporean.
I studied in England thanks to my dad.
My english can be powderful,
But I rhyme better in hokkien than in english.
When I die, the face of my ashes urn will tell you my provincial roots in China,
not Singapore.

I am an engineer, and I still cannot afford a car.
I feel progress but it seems like more weight to the existing ball & chain I have on both my legs.
I take the public transport.But due to rising cab fares, my 18mth old daughter have to be cruelly woken up at 7am so we can bring her by 3 trips of bus to the nanny.
It is a change of lifestyle but my wife, my baby daughter and I have to accept this change.

One day, my daughter will grow up.
Though she cannot understand now,
Why both of her parents have to work and spend so little time with her,
Why she is on the bus most of the time that we are with her,
Why she dont get to see her mummy more than her nanny.
I will work my whole life for her..
I hope I can provide her her to learn French, Bahasa Melayu and perfect her mother tongue, Mandarin.
So she will have better life than me.

I am often known by me online alter ego, FarBird.
I am Franklin Neo in real life.
Whatever name you choose to call me...
I was Singaporean and I am Singaporean.

So Say We All...
So Say We All...


Other "I am Singaporean" podcasts below.
http://media.libsyn.com/media/mb/tmbs-060704-i_am_singaporean.mp3
http://www.mrbrown.com/blog/2006/07/browncast_i_am_.html

http://media.libsyn.com/media/mb/tmbs-060705-i_am_singaporean_miyagi.mp3
http://www.mrbrown.com/blog/2006/07/browncast_i_am__1.html

Techonocrati Tag : iamsingaporean

Techonocrati Tag : Mr Brown Show

Fares up, no free speech, National day

Not sure if anyone read the "voices" column every Friday by this
guy known as Mr Brown.

He did an article on progress vs rising cost of living
here.
http://www.todayonline.com/articles/127762.asp

Also seen in his blog here
http://www.mrbrown.com/blog/2006/07/today_sporeans_.html

The following monday, he was slammed by MICA Press Secretary
feedback in the same papers.

The contents of the feedback replicated here
http://www.mrbrown.com/blog/2006/07/letter_from_mic.html

Issue raised were rising cost of living and rising cost of public
transport..

Well...
I left some comments and would like my friends to see and appreciate
also..
I also submitted the same letter to TodayOnline.com feedback but
apparently it wasnt published on Tuesday. In fact, the papers didnt
even publish a single feedback with regards to this issue.

http://forums.hardwarezone.com/showpost.php?p=19231842&postcount=48

also seen here but u need to search for "franklin"
http://www.mrbrown.com/blog/2006/07/letter_from_mic.html



And here is another comment from me in this forum
http://forums.hardwarezone.com/showpost.php?p=19229559&postcount=1
---Extract from HWZ forum---
Every ride will cost $2.50 when u board the cab.
For every 210m below 10km, it will charge $0.10 instead of the
previous $0.10 per 225m.
for every 175m above 10km, it will charge $0.10 instead of the
previous $0.10 per 200m


Today, I will make it my personal mission to boycott taxis.

To make my point that Govt must take care of the public that voted
for them... and not ensure the interests of the companies that the
govt had invested heavily in..


I ask of you , humble reader, to join me too.

Last night, I walked about 2km with my daughter in arm so I can have
1 bus trip lesser.

Not because for exercise or for health sake... but for the fact that
I choose not to be milked any further than necessary by these arms
of govt.

-------------------------------------------------------------------


The link below was my most recent comment on this issue.
http://forums.hardwarezone.com/showpost.php?p=19233307&postcount=9

On how much I have to spend on transport every month.



This link below is a podcast by Mr Brown, after the MICA letter
http://media.libsyn.com/media/mb/tmbs-060704-i_am_singaporean.mp3

Apparently, this podcast was done for National Day and it sings the
songs of all middle class Singaporeans. I wept in office after
hearing the podcast...

Another supporter made a video and posted on youtube in retaliation to MICA reply
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQxU3K-w0bU

I may just be a speck of sand on the beach.....and the coastline is
receding fast.

My flag won't be flying this year...
You have a choice always...

Vicious Cycle

Everyday....
Every morning...
Every afternoon...
Every Evening...
Every Night...

A new cycle which repeats itself as per the last.

Vicious cycle of constantly repetitive nature.
No deterioration, no improvements.


Same cycle.
Same, identical, no change...

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and back to Monday again.
No way of breaking free from the cycle..

Everytime its the same.

Read it again and enjoy your own cycle...

Today is 14th May 2006
Time is 10:30pm

WHILE Cycle!=0
{
Yuck Fou..
Muck Fe..
Cycle=1
}

Inspiration

Movies, novel, autobiographies..
Such are literature that inspires our daily lives.

After watching the movie "SAW II", the second installment of the successful run of its predecessor, many thoughts were invoked..

In the movie, it was said that ....

If a man knows his exact time of death,

will he
a) slip into a life of despair, knowing his lifespan was a clockwork,wound only once and will stop at a precise moment?
or will he
b) treasure every minute of his life, fulfilling and savoring every moment in both enriching his own life and also the lives of others, in the hope of leaving some trace of himself behind in history once his time is up ?

This question brings back the memory of another book of which became a famous training course for many executives and professionals. In the book of Stephen R. Covey's "7 Habits of Highly Effective People", it invokes the thought of its readers by asking what would the readers expect mourners to say of them in their own funeral. Though it inspires its readers to some extent of how they'd want their lives to be remembered by others, it may not have done enough. Personally, the former question will invoke more serious considerations on how one should live their life.

In the recently published "Freakonomics" by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, the real trick is asking smart questions. The right question to ask which brings the answer that will really satisfy the need to know. Asking a man to think about his own funeral and the things people are going to say at his funeral versus telling him his exact time of death. Now both achieve similar results. However, it doesn't need evidential proof to know which of the 2 will be more effective.

Knowing that, let us know flip the coin around to the real people whom know their exact or estimated death date. (Thanks to frank and honest doctors whom can hardly resist the temptation to inform the patients that. due to many research and statistics around the world, the patients will die within 6 months, give and take 2 months.)

Would those whom have got terminal diseases continue to enrich their lives? Would they care more than their diminishing existences to even go reach out to someone else to enrich their lives? More than often, it is not the case. Probably, it was a question they have not given any thought and thus when the situation hits them, they become at a loss of what to do.

But death comes to us all. Why is anyone surprised to know that it's their turn?
The clockwork, which was wound decades ago, doesn't slow down when reaching its end.
Sometimes, it doesn't even give warning signs on reaching its end.
Life merely stops, as abruptly as it started.

For those whom encountered such abrupt stops, they have the luxury of living their life fully till the end without any despair of knowledge of their end of existence.
For those whom will have the "luxury" of knowing their precise time and date, keep on living... or keep on dying..

It's your choice

Today is 1st May 2006
Time is 10:27 pm

I want to have the luxury of not knowing.

Radio GaGa

A radio station.
A waiting phone line that is not busy.
A DJ with a soothing voice.
To assure life, is not just a series of wrong decisions.

Someday, everyone needs that radio station, that waiting phone line that is always not busy, that DJ with the soothing voice, that assurance.

At least once..

The Joy of Giving

Everyone is so keen to dish out punishments....

And the only one whom knows how to give commendations and compliments, seemed to be the gravedigger.




Today is 9th April 2006.
Time is 2.36pm.

You do not have to wait until I die to tell me I am a good person.
It will be too late then.

Choices

Everyday, we live to make choices that dictate the way we live our life.

Every single day, hour, minute, second...

Today is 3rd April 2006.
Time is 4.53 pm.

Waiting for time to go by while I decide what to do with the time I have.

*poof*